


You can’t Fight Fate

by lalaitskelcey



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Multi, Ravenclaw Ben, Rivals to Lovers, Slytherin Rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:19:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22792372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalaitskelcey/pseuds/lalaitskelcey
Summary: Rianne Niima is a muggle born witch, with an alcoholic mother. Hogwarts is her ticket to a happier life, and she can’t wait to graduate and become an auror. Ben Solo is her rival since her first year, both of them trying to best each other at everything they do. But he could just end up being the person she needs most....
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 18
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

  
Rianne Niima, or Rey for short, was very puzzled when she saw an owl flying toward her house on a cloudy day in November, which also happened to be her eleventh birthday. She jumps down from the window, and runs outside just in time for the owl to drop a letter into her waiting hands. Her eyes widen when she sees it’s addressed to her.

**_Ms. R Niima_ **

**_23 Hortons Way_ **

**_Saphgham_ **

**_Westerham_ **

_Who would be sending me mail?_ Maybe it was intended for her mother, and they just got the first initial wrong. She walks back inside, down the hall to the lounge, and looks at her sleeping mother. Sleeping wasn’t really the correct term, she’d had too much alcohol. It had become a regular occurrence since Rey’s father had left a few months ago. 

She turns around, and walks back to her perch by the window. She decides to open the letter, and is shocked by what she reads,

  
  


**_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_ **

**_Headmistress: Amilyn Holdo_ **

**_Dear Ms. Niima,_ **

**_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._ **

**_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._ **

**_Yours sincerely,_ **

**_Lucas Skywalker_ **

**_Deputy Headmaster_ **

**_Second page_ **

~~

A few days later, a strange man shows up at her house. She runs to the door when she sees him, throwing the door open before he could knock. He looks at her with wide eyes, dropping his hand back to his side.

“Hello, Ms. Niima. Is your mother around?”

She takes in his odd appearance, and the large shaggy dog at his side. He wears a dark purple cloak, that goes all the way down to his black leather boots. 

“She isn’t home right now.”

He bends down, resting his elbows on his knees, “Well, I guess I should introduce myself first,” he holds out a hand, a kind smile on his face. “My name is Lando Calrissian, I’m the flying instructor at Hogwarts. And this great beast is Chewbacca.” He tilts his head to the dog at his side. Her eyes widen, and she reaches out to shake his hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, sir. I’m afraid I wasn’t sure how to respond to the letter I received.” 

He straightens, and she looks up at him. “That’s quite alright, Ms. Niima. That’s what I’m here for. Do you know when your mother will be home? Have you discussed the letter with her?” 

She looks down at her feet. “She hasn’t been home since yesterday, sir. And when I tried to show her the letter, she thought I’d made it myself.” 

He taps her on the shoulder, and she looks back up at him. “Does your mother disappear like this often?” 

“Sometimes.”

The corners of his mouth turn down, and she worries that she shouldn’t have told him. He’ll be mad at her, and she’ll get in trouble. He smiles again, putting a hand on her head. 

“It’s not your fault, dear. Do you want to go to Hogwarts, and learn how to be a witch?” 

She grins widely, and jumps up and down, “Yes, more than anything, sir!” 

He chuckles, offering her his hand, “Then let's get started.”

~~

She sits in an empty train car, staring at her wand. It was made of Alder, it’s core being a feather from a Star Bird. Rey had never heard of such a creature, but it sounded beautiful. A knock at the door makes her jump, looking away from her wand. 

“Hello, do you mind if I sit with you?” 

She shakes her head, “Not at all.”

The boy smiles and sits across from her. “Thank you. I’m Finn, by the way.”

She smiles back, “Nice you meet you, Finn. I’m Rey.”

~~

She watches as Finn sits on the stool, and Professor Skywalker places the sorting hat on his head. It thinks for a moment, and then bellows, “Gryffindor!” The Gryffindor table stands and claps, and Finn has a wide grin on his face as he goes to join them. When it’s Rey’s turn, she feels her cheeks warm as she walks up on the platform. When the sorting hat is placed on her head, it sighs. 

“I see great potential in you, Rianne Niima, but where to put you.” She considers asking to go to Gryffindor, to go with Finn, but she doesn’t. 

The hat bellows, “Slytherin!”

Her eyes widen, and she stands as the hat is pulled from her head. The Slytherin table stands and claps, and she walks off the platform to join them. 

A very tall blonde girl holds her hand out to Rey once she sits down. “I’m Guinevere Phasma, but you can call me Gwen.” Rey shakes her hand.

“I just got assigned as prefect this year, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.” 

Rey smiles, and thanks her. Twelve more students get assigned to houses, and then Professor Skywalker calls out,

“Ben Solo.” 

A boy slowly steps up onto the platform; his raven black hair frames his pale face, and she can’t help but think he’s the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen. The sorting hat is placed on his head, and bellows out, 

“Ravenclaw!” He stands, and goes to join the cheering students at the Ravenclaw table. His head turns toward her suddenly, meeting her gaze, and she flinches at the intensity in his eyes. His eyebrows furrow, and he looks away again. 

**_Six years later_ **

Rey was running late. She stumbles down the stairs, almost dropping her bag. She straightens her tie, and pulls her sweater down. She didn’t intend for this to happen, she never did, but she was late to her potions class again.

When she slides in the door, Professor Erso just sighs without even turning around. “Late again, Ms. Niima. Let’s not keep making a habit of it.” 

She quickly hops into her seat next to Finn, who just shakes his head with a smile. She can feel Ben Solo’s eyes on her, but she ignores him. She knocks her shoulder against Finn’s, and pulls out her potions book. 

Professor Erso turns around and clears her throat, “As I was saying, today we will be making a Wit Sharpening potion, and once you are finished, you’ll be testing it on the person sitting next to you. You may begin.” 

She smiles, having already practiced this one a few times. She makes quick work of it, and rests her chin in her palm when finished, and watches Finn. While she had received an ‘Outstanding’ on her O.W.L., Finn had only gotten an ‘Exceeds Expectations’. She hadn’t even been quite sure why he decided to take the class again, but was glad to have his company nonetheless. She was surprised he hadn’t taken Herbology with Professor Chewie, his favorite teacher. 

To say she had been shocked when she’d learned that the “dog” trailing along next to Professor Calrissian had actually been another Professor, would be an understatement. He was an animagus, who wasn’t particularly fond of going out and around muggles who stared at his large stature, but still wanted to help muggle born witches and wizards get to Hogwarts.

Professor Erso claps her hands, “Times up, stir sticks down.” She hears a few groans around the classroom.

When it’s Rey’s turn to test her potion, Finn correctly recites all of the Runes of Lothal, and the proper ways to use them. Everyone claps, and Rey grins. 

“Very good, Miss Niima. Five points to Slytherin.”

It’s no surprise that when it's Ben Solo’s turn to test his potion, his partner names off all of the creatures whose feathers or hairs are used in wands and the benefit each one gives. People clap again, and Professor Erso awards 5 points to Ravenclaw. Rey suppresses an eye roll.

Rey waves goodbye to Finn, and goes to get changed for Quidditch practice. Today was their turn to have the pitch to themselves, and they intended to be ready for their match against Ravenclaw. Rey especially wanted to win because Ben was their seeker, as she was the seeker for Slytherin. They’d had an intense rivalry ever since first year, when they’d tied for highest marks. Then when it had been time for their O.W.L.s, Rey got higher marks; during their quidditch match in sixth year, Ben caught the snitch before her. So she was determined to get it first this time. 

She changes out of her school robes, and into her seeker uniform. Kaydel Connix pats her on the back when she walks by.

“Let’s have a good practice today, yeah?” 

She smiles and leaves the locker room. Kaydel is another seventh year, and the captain of the team. Rey follows her out. Once everyone is on the field, Kaydel gets everyone’s attention. 

“Okay guys, our next match is an important one. Ravenclaw is ahead of us by a few points, so we really need to give it our all.” Armitage Huxton, or Hux, as they like to call him, clears his throat, 

“I’ve come up with a new strategy for the chasers that I think will be most effective.” He says, with a smirk. 

Rey had found him odd ever since she came to Hogwarts. He was in the same grade as she was, and in their fifth year, he’d asked her on a date to Hogsmeade the following weekend. When she had declined, he scoffed and said he didn’t really want to be seen with a mudblood anyways. The next day, she’d spotted him with a rather nasty looking black eye and a broken nose, and was disappointed she hadn't been the one to have given it to him. 

Kaydel reluctantly agrees to hear his plan, with a strained look on her face. Rey doesn’t even bother paying attention, since it doesn’t involve her. She wonders if her mother ever got her letter she sent two weeks ago, seeing as she hadn’t responded. She usually didn’t respond, except for the occasion she needed money. She’d at least been drinking less, so for that Rey was grateful. She’s pulled from her thoughts when she hears her name,

“Miss Niima? Are you listening?” Hux says, with a frown.

She nods, crossing her arms. “Yes, I was listening.” 

“Let’s get started!” Kaydel says, ending Hux’s speech. 

Rey watches everyone else for a moment, before releasing the snitch and taking off. Being in the air is her favorite place to be, and it always helps clear her head. She weaves her way around the goal post, and down under the chasers. She notices Hux watching her, sure he’s preparing a “strategy” for her to follow. But he knows nothing about seeking, and in her opinion, he barely knows how to be a chaser. 

She spots the snitch whizzing past the stands, and leans forward, shooting toward it. She reaches her hand out, and her fingers are inches from it, when suddenly her broom starts shaking. She hastily grabs it with both hands, willing it to stop. It shoots her up in the air, and then drops from underneath her. She fumbles for her wand tucked into her boot as she falls, and as she goes to grab it, it’s like her hand is burned. She yelps, and then she squeezes her eyes shut when she realizes she is going to hit the ground. 

It’s a small mercy that she doesn’t actually remember hitting the ground, but she lays staring up at the sky, the pain etching it’s way through her body. She distantly hears shouting, and someone calling her name. The last thing she sees is Kaydel’s panicked face looking down at her.

~~

Pain is the first thing she notices. Or rather, the lack of pain. She knows she should be in an incredible amount of it, considering how high up she was when she hit the ground. She opens her eyes, and sees she's laying on a cot in the infirmary, and a curtain is pulled around her. She gingerly sits up, and her arm is in a sling. She pulls the sheet from her, and her left leg is held captive by some kind of wooden brace from above her knee down to her toes. 

“Hello?” She calls out. The curtain is pulled open, and Professor Holdo comes to stand next to her.

“How’re you feeling?” She sits down in the chair next to her cot. 

She shrugs, “Fine, I guess. Considering.” 

Professor Holdo smiles, “That's good. Do you remember what happened?” 

Rey furrows her brow, thinking back to what happened.

“My broom just started shaking wildly, and I couldn’t stop it. Then it just dropped, and when I tried to grab my wand, it burned me.” She holds up her left hand, and examines her palm. There was a nasty red splotch on her hand.

Professor Holdo raises an eyebrow, “It burned you?” She sits back, “I’ll call Professor Andor to take a look at your wand, if you don’t mind. See if he can detect any dark magic.” Professor Andor was the defense against the dark arts teacher.

Rey shakes her head, “I don’t mind.” Professor Holdo nods, then stands and walks out of the infirmary. 

Madame Kalonia comes over and pulls the curtain away further, holding a tray in one hand, 

“Now that you’re awake, we can heal those cuts and scrapes on your face.”

Rey reaches a hand up to her face, not even realizing she was cut up. She winces when she touches her forehead, a rather nasty gash there. Madame Kalonia sets the tray on her cot, and pores some Murtlap Essence on to a cloth.

“This will sting a bit, I’m afraid.” She begins dabbing the cloth on her forehead, and Rey sucks in a breath and squeezes her eyes shut. 

“That’s all taken care of.” She walks out of Rey’s view for a second, then comes back with a cup.

“You didn’t lose too much blood, but it was enough that I want to give you a blood replenishing position just in case.” 

Rey reluctantly takes the cup from her, remembering how awful it tastes. She’d had her fair share of injuries, being the quidditch team. She gulps down the potion, trying not to gag. 

“Now comes the fun part, we need to mend this leg. Your arm wasn’t too bad, so that’ll just stay wrapped and in the sling. But if we don’t fix your leg it’ll likely heal wrong leaving you with a limp.” She pulls her wand out from her dress pocket, giving Rey a sympathetic look. 

“Brace yourself, dear.” Rey clenches her jaw, and holds on to the edge of the cot. She flicks her wand toward Rey’s leg, and she feels an intense burn work it’s way down her leg, toward her toes. She bites down on her cheek hard enough to draw blood, and a small whimper escapes from her throat. Madame Kalonia pats her shoulder, 

“All done.”

Rey takes a deep breath, and unclenches her hand, and licks the wound in her mouth. That pain is nothing compared to what she just went through. 

“Well, you missed dinner. So I can arrange to have something sent to your dorm. Get plenty of rest tonight, and come see me in a few days so I can check on your arm.” She smiles, and Rey just nods. She removes the brace from Rey’s leg, and sends her off with a warning to be careful the next few days.

Rey slowly makes her way down the stairs, and heads for the Slytherin dorm. “Rey!” Her head snaps up. Finn comes running toward her, skidding to a halt in front of her.

“Are you okay now? What happened to your arm?” 

She rubs the back of her neck with her free hand. “It happened during quidditch practice. I don’t really know what happened. I can tell you more about it tomorrow, okay? I’m tired and hungry.” 

Finn chuckles, “Those are the two worst things for you to be,” he teases, and she manages a smile despite how she feels.

“One more thing though, Hux was going around telling people you crashed your broom during practice,” she rolls her eyes, of course he was gossiping about it, “and Ben Solo stormed up to him and grabbed him by his robes! Told him to keep his damn mouth shut!” Rey’s eyes widen, and she doesn’t know what to say. 

“It’s wild, I know! His uncle pulled him back, and told Hux to go see the head mistress. He walked Ben out of the hall after that.” 

Finn headed off shortly after, leaving Rey to stew on what he’d told her. Since when did _Solo_ care what anyone said about her? Hux was quite the tosser, no doubt about that. But she never thought Ben Solo would defend her honor. It almost made her angry. She didn’t need anyone else fighting her battles for her.

When she gets into her dorm, she sees a plate of food waiting for her on her bed. Her roommates were already asleep, and so she ate as quietly as she could. When she finally crawled into bed, she kept tossing and turning, sleep seemingly evading her. Once she finally drifted off, her dream took her back to her first day at Hogwarts, and the boy with dark raven hair who had glared at her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The quidditch match against Ravenclaw is canceled until further notice, and Rey wishes she had an invisibility cloak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than what I’d like, but future chapters will be longer.

Ben hates having to eat in the great hall with everyone else. He wishes they gave students the option to have meals in their dorms instead. He sits at the end of the Ravenclaw table, his classmates knowing he prefers to be left alone. It’s not that he disliked them, he just disliked being around all the noise, and the sound of hundreds of voices talking all at once. 

He scowls down at his food when he hears the voice of his least favorite person close behind him,

“She ruined the whole practice. We probably won’t even be able to play our match this weekend. If Niima could just learn to fly properly,” Hux says, slamming his hand down on the table.

Ben's head snaps up at the mention of his rivals name, he turns around to face Hux. 

“What did you say?” 

Hux jumps, and turns to scowl at him, “I said if Niima could just learn to fly properly, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Probably just did it on purpose for attention, filthy mudblo-“

He’s cut off and makes a choking sound, when Ben pulls him up by the collar of his robes. 

“You just keep your damn mouth shut!”

The entire dining hall goes silent, heads turning toward them. Hux tries to pull his hands off, but Ben just tightens his fists, thinking about punching him.

“Hey, hey! That’s enough!” His uncle grabs him by the shoulder, pulling him away from Hux. He grips Ben’s shoulder, and turns to point at Hux,

“Report to the Headmistresses office.”

Hux straightens out his robes, and walks past them, throwing a glare in Ben's direction. 

“Come on.” Luke grabs Bens arm, and pulls him out of the dinning hall. He’s breathing heavily, and considering taking off after Hux. 

“Look at me,” he snaps his gaze to his uncle, “you don’t like him, I get that. But I’ve told you, you need to control yourself. Don’t let your anger control you.”

Ben shakes his head, “He called her a filthy mud blood.”

Luke gently takes his shoulders, “I know. And it was an awful thing for him to say. But is that really what upset you so much?” He raises an eyebrow.

Ben furrows his brow at that, “What? What are you implying?”

Luke drops his hands and takes a step back. 

“I’m remembering a similar event from two years ago, when Hux ended up with a broken nose, and you a bruised fist. You confronted him about-“

Ben furiously shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose, “This has nothing to do with her, Hux is just a pompous asshole who needs to learn to keep his mouth shut!” 

Luke just gives him a dubious look. Ben rolls his eyes and turns and walks away from his uncle. 

“Where are you going?” Luke asks him.

Without turning around, Ben calls over his shoulder, “Back to my dorm.” 

Luke calls out to him, but Ben just ignores him.

~~

Brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand is harder than Rey imagined it would be. She’d had to ask Kaydel to help with the tooth paste, and then Kaydel had also told her she’d help her with whatever she needed help with, because she felt guilty.

“What on earth is there for you to feel guilty about?” Rey says, with a huff.

Kaydel frowns, “If I’d been paying better attention, I could’ve cast a slowing charm. It’s my job as captain to pay attention to everything, and I failed.” 

Rey sets her tooth brush down, and spits.

“Kaydel, I don’t blame you. It happened so quickly, there wasn’t time for you to do anything.”

She crosses her arms, “Still, I mean it. If there’s anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Rey smiles, and nods, “I will, thank you.”

She was glad she managed to get dressed without asking for help, and she heads to the great hall with Kaydel and a few other girls from Slytherin. They’re all chatting with each other, but Rey isn’t paying attention. 

“Rey!” Her head snaps up, looking for who just called out to her. She sees Rose Tico running toward her, a sixth year from Hufflepuff.

“Are you okay?! Finn told me what happened!”

She resists rolling her eyes, of course Finn told her. 

“I’m fine, Rose. I’ll be getting my arm out of this in a few days.”

Rose fusses over her a bit more, and then waves and goes to join the other Hufflepuffs. Rey remembers her sister Paige, she had graduated last year, and had been a Slytherin like herself. She still kept in touch with her through letters. 

She makes it to the Slytherin table, and her eye catches on a familiar dark head of hair at the Ravenclaw table. She narrows her eyes, and makes her way toward him. With her free hand, she grabs his shoulder and turns him to face her, 

“I don’t need you telling people off for me, Solo. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.” 

His jaw twitches, and he just glares at her. 

“I’m aware, Niima. But it had nothing to do with you, Hux is just an insufferable twit.”

She puts her hand on her hip, glaring down at him. She starts to say something else, but she spots Professor Jade, her head of house, giving her a pointed look from the high table. Her words from a few weeks ago ring in her head,

**_“_ ** _I understand you and Mr. Solo aren’t fond of each other, but you need to cool it with the squabbling. Especially in the great hall. If you end up in detention again, it doesn’t make a good look for you trying to get into the auror program after you graduate.”_

So she bites her tongue, and spins on her heel and walks away. 

Before they can start eating, Professor Holdo steps up to the podium, and calls for silence. 

“Good morning, everyone. Normally I would wait to make any important announcements until dinner time, but I think you all deserved to know as soon as possible. The quidditch match this weekend has been canceled, until further notice.”

Many cries of disdain go around, and Rey feels her stomach drop, _I hope it isn’t because of me_

Professor Holdo calls for silence again, “Once a thorough investigation of certain events has been completed, we’ll reschedule the match. Thank you.” 

She notices many heads turn in her direction, and she just hunches down in her seat. 

The rest of her day is filled with hasty glances in her direction when people think she isn’t looking, and hushed whispers. When she gets to her defense against the dark arts class, Professor Andor comes down the stairs, and gestures behind him with his wand, and writing appears on the board.

“Today, we’ll be practicing sending messages with the Patronus charm. I want all of you to be able to call for help should you ever have the need to.” 

A few hands go up around the classroom, and he points to a girl from Ravenclaw. 

“Does this have to do with the quidditch match being canceled?” 

He leans against his desk, crossing his arms over his chest, “That’s part of the reason, but I think it’s also important that you all know how.”

He tells everyone to get started trying to send messages to the person sitting next to them, and he waves Rey up to his desk. 

“I’m afraid I wasn’t able to determine why your wand would have burned you when you tried to reach for it,” he sets it down in front of her, “if anything like that happens again, please come see me or the headmistress immediately.” 

She nods and picks up her wand. 

“Who should I work with, Professor? We have an uneven amount of students today.”

He looks around the classroom, but before he can respond, the door to the classroom opens.

“Mr. Solo, thank you for finally joining us.”

She whips her head in the direction of the door, and Ben is walking toward where they stand.

“I’m sorry, Professor, the headmistress asked to see me.” He says, glancing at her briefly and then looking back at Professor Andor. 

“I’ll confirm that with her myself. In the meantime, you’ll be working with Miss Niima on sending messages with your Patronus.” 

“What?!” They both say in unison.

“Professor, I don’t think that’s-“ Ben starts, but is cut off with a look from Professor Andor.

They both grumble, and go to an open spot in the classroom, Rey finding it awkward to hold her wand in her left hand. 

She closes her eyes, and remembers how happy she’d been when Professor Calrissian first brought her to Hogwarts. Or how free she had felt the first time she’d ridden a broom, and then quietly says,

“Expecto patronum,”

She opens her eyes, and the light pours from her wand, forming a doe. She sees Ben hasn’t summoned his yet, just watching her with a strained look on his face. 

She huffs, stomping her foot, “Are you just going to stand there, or what?” 

He clenches his jaw, and pulls his wand from his sleeve, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, he holds up his wand and silently summons his patronus. She starts to call him a show off, but freezes as his patronus takes shape. 

There’s gasps around her, and excited whispers. Thinking back to fifth year, Ben and herself had been the first two to successfully use the patronus charm, hers of course being a doe, and his had been cat. But it seems Bens had changed, because it was now a stag. 

“They’re soulmates!” A girl from Hufflepuff excitedly calls out. 

She faints.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, big surprise, right? I don’t know for sure if they focus on teaching students to send messages with their patronuses, but let’s pretend like they do. And having a doe and stag for patronuses doesn’t necessarily have to mean two people are soul mates, but it means something since Ben’s changed to match Rey’s.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben is an enigma that Rey can only hope to understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are picking up more in this chapter, hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave me any feedback!

Ben recalls the day he met her, the girl who would become his rival. He remembered seeing her at the sorting ceremony, a small, scraggly looking girl with big brown eyes. When he’d noticed her staring at him, he scowled and looked away. Then the first day of classes came around, and he’d been unfortunate enough to be seated next to her in charms class. It was clear she was muggle born, from how she gasped at every small detail Professor Yoda explained about how to properly move your wrist when spell casting. Then, when it came to their flying lessons, Rey called her broom up to her, but instead of going to her hand, it smacked him in the face. The rest of their class laughed, and he felt his face go red. He glared at her, and she shrunk back and apologized. He’d been even more irritated as the year went on, and she quickly picked up on everything they learned, and they became tied for top marks that year. It only made matters worse when they were both picked as seekers for their respective houses. 

He’d been minding his own business one day during fifth year, as he always did, when he noticed Niima talking to Hux in the courtyard. Hux had his hands clasped behind his back, and he said something Ben couldn’t hear. Rey smiled awkwardly, and shook her head. Hux scoffed loudly, balling his fists up at his side.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be seen out with a filthy little mud blood anyways!” He then stormed away from her.

He felt his anger rise, and he watched her for a moment, she pressed her lips together and clenched her fists, before spinning on her heel and walking away. He went off in the direction Hux went, and quickly found him talking to a few other Slytherins. He grabbed him by the back of his sweater, and turned him around. 

“Solo, what the hell-“

He cuts him off as his fist connects with his nose. Hux falls backward, clutching his face as blood spills from his nose. He glares down at him, before stalking off. His uncle finds him later, hiding out in the room of requirements. He questions him as to why his fist is bruised and swollen, but Ben ignores him. 

Finally, he recalls summer break before seventh year. He’d been practicing summoning his patronus, since he was finally 17, and therefore old enough to use magic outside of Hogwarts. He closed his eyes, recalling what he thought was his happiest memory, and furrows his brow when nothing happens. He then thinks back to his previous year at Hogwarts, and recalls when he’d been sitting in the back of The Three Broomsticks with a few other Ravenclaw students. Rey was sitting at a table near the front, with two boys from Gryffindor, and a girl from Hufflepuff. He didn’t recall their names, but he overheard a bit of their conversation. 

“...so glad I’m sixteen now, so it doesn’t matter if my mother never signed my permission slip. What a stupid rule anyways.” Her friends nodded and agreed. The witch who ran the tavern delivered four butterbeers just then, and they all clapped.

“Rey’s first time trying butterbeer, this should be good.” The older boy with dark curly hair said. Rey takes a hesitant sip, and grins widely. 

“That’s so good!” Her friends laugh, and take sips from their own cups. He tried to ignore the way his heart lurched at the sight of her smile, and he stands abruptly, his housemates looking at him quizzically. He mumbled an excuse, and hurried from the tavern. 

He shakes his head, sure that memory won’t work, but tries summoning his patronus again. Light pours from the tip of his wand, and his mouth drops open. But instead of the cat he remembered from fifth year, the light forms a stag. He drops to his knees, his wand slipping from his fingers. 

So when he found himself faced with the task of summoning his patronus in front of her, his heart beats wildly, and he feels the tips of his ears reddening. She closes her eyes, and calls out,

“Expecto Patronum,” 

Her doe appears, and he has a loud ringing in his ears, his heart beating frantically. She gives him an irritated look, and stomps her foot. He doesn’t even hear what she says, just closes his eyes and silently summons his patronus. He opens his eyes as the light begins pouring from the tip of his wand, forming the shape of a stag. Rey’s mouth drops open, her eyes wide. He hears gasps around him, and someone calls out,

“They’re soul mates!” 

He doesn’t know what to think when Rey faints.

~~

When she comes back around, she sees Professor Andor standing over her, a hand supporting her head.

“Miss Niima, are you alright? How does your head feel?” She blinks at him, and sits up.

“What happened?” She sees everyone looking at her with mixed expressions. Some shocked, some worried, and some amused.

“You fainted,” he stands and offers her a hand up. She takes it, and notices Ben standing behind Professor Andor, his back turned. “You should go see Madame Kalonia, have her check your head.” Ben turns back around suddenly,

“I’ll escort her.” The Professor turns toward him, raising an eyebrow.

“Alright, but come back after you see her off.” Rey considers objecting, that she is perfectly capable of taking herself, but she still feels light headed.

She starts walking, not waiting for him. But with his long legs, he catches up easily. 

“When did your patronus change?” She says, not looking at him. He sighs,

“I don’t know when exactly, I first noticed it this summer.” 

“Why did it change?”

He scoffs, “Do you really expect me to have an answer?”

She rolls her eyes, “It doesn’t mean anything. People have matching patronuses all the time, it doesn't make them soulmates.” She actually doesn’t know anyone else with matching patronuses, and she suspects he knows this but he doesn’t question her. 

“You really think it means nothing?” He mutters, and she finally looks at him. He stares straight ahead, his hands in his pockets.

“Why would it mean anything? Why would it only now be a stag, and not from the beginning?” She turns her head forward again, as they near the end of the corridor. “And anyways, you despise me so why-“

She’s cut off as he grabs her shoulders, turning her toward him abruptly.

“Don’t tell me how I feel.” He says between gritted teeth. She has to look up at him, and she forgets sometimes how bloody _tall_ he is. He’d been a tall, gangly child. Sometime during fifth year, he’d grown into it a bit more and began filling out, and girls had started fawning over him. She notices his ears sticking out from his hair, and they’re bright red. She feels a blush start to form, and pushes him away.

“I’ll see myself the rest of the way.” She doesn’t wait for him to respond, and storms off.

~~

She sits at lunch now, and surprisingly isn’t very hungry. She pokes at her food with her fork, half listening to Kaydel talk. 

“I have so much homework to do this weekend. I really hope Professor Erso doesn’t assign as much as she did last week.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder.

“I know, I already have a mountain of work to do from astronomy. Professor D’Acy went way overboard.” Jessika says, taking a bite of her sandwich. 

She feels a tap on her shoulder, and she turns and sees Jannah standing behind her. “Rey, I heard you fainted in class today, you okay?” She suppresses an eye roll, and nods.

“Yeah, no big deal.” She’s positive Jannah heard about everything else that happened, but is grateful she doesn’t mention it.

Jannah nods, “Okay, well I hope you’re taking care of yourself.” She smiles and walks away.

Rey liked Jannah, and she was the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. She remembers when she got her first period in second year, and had locked herself in the girls bathroom and cried. Jannah had found her, and assured her it was perfectly normal and that it happened to all girls. They’d been close friends ever since. 

“You fainted?” Rey turns back to Kaydel, shrugging. 

“It’s no big deal,” she lies. “I went to Madame Kalonia and got checked out, she said I was fine.”

“It was the shock of having matching patronuses with Solo, wasn’t it?” A boy sitting close to Kaydel says.

Jessika and Kaydel both look back at Rey, their eyes widening. Rey just sighs and goes back to eating her food. 

A few other people question her throughout the day about what happened, but she just ignores them all. The weekend rolls around, and she decides not to go to Hogsmeade, hoping to avoid anyone else questioning her about what happened. She finally got another letter from her mother, and since she’s alone in her dorm room, she decides to read it.

**_Hello, I’m sorry to tell you Rhea moved out of the apartment. This is the new tenant. I wasn’t given any forwarding address. I tried to send your letters back to you as I got them, but they must not have reached you._ **

Rey stares at the letter, and reads through it a few more times. _She moved? How could she even afford to move?_ After she came back to school her second year with a nasty cigarette burn on her shoulder, Professor Jade had stepped in to have her removed from her mother’s care. She knew she had a living grandfather somewhere, because her mother complained that he wouldn’t send her anymore money. They’d tried to track him down, but came to no luck. She ended up in the home of an older witch, by the name of Maz Kanata. Rey chose to try and keep in touch with her mother, but she mostly only asked for money. The last time Rey saw her mother had been over the summer, and she was still in the same apartment. She crumples up the letter and tosses it. 

She decides to leave her room, and walk around the grounds. She walks out of the school, and pulls her jacket tighter around her. It was the middle of April, but it was still quite chilly outside. She leans against a column in the middle courtyard, watching the leaves blow everywhere. She wonders if everyone is having a good time in hogsmeade, and starts to think she should have gone with them. She’s pulled from her thoughts when she hears a desperate yowling. She looks around, trying to determine where the sound came from. She spots a fluffy black ball of fur, across the courtyard from her. She cautiously approaches, in an effort not to startle the already distressed cat. It hisses when she comes to stand right next to it, and she notices it’s paw is caught on a rose bush. 

“Oh, poor thing.” She mumbles to herself. She kneels down next to it, and it hisses again, but doesn’t seem like it’ll attack her. 

She points her wand at the stem, and quietly says, “Diffindo,” the branch breaks, and she carefully pulls the cat's paw away. “That should feel a little better now.” It licks its paw, and stops and looks at her, blinking slowly. She reaches a hand out toward it, and it sniffs her fingers before rubbing its head against her hand. She smiles and scratches their head. 

“Kylo, where are you?” 

_Oh no, that voice…_ the cat takes off behind her, and she stands slowly. 

“Kylo, where have you been?” Ben says, as the cat jumps up into his arms. “What happened to your paw?” He glances up then, and finally notices her standing there.

“He was stuck on a rose bush. I-I helped free him.” She puts her hand in her pocket, pressing her lips together.

“Thank you, I’ve been looking for him for a while now.”

They stand in silence for a moment, and Rey just blurts the first thing that comes to mind, “I didn’t know you had a cat.” 

His eyebrows raise, “Most people don’t. They think Kylo is just a stray who hangs out here. He just does what he pleases, really.” He scratches Kylo’s chin, and he purrs. 

She brushes her hair out of her eyes, and looks down at her feet, “I’m sorry for… upsetting you the other day. Sometimes I just get frustrated and take it out on other people.”

“I’ve noticed.”

She looks back up at him, expecting a scowl, but is surprised to see him smiling. She feels a fluttering in her stomach, and Kylo jumps from Ben's arms, and bounds over to rub himself against her legs. 

“He must like you. He doesn’t do that with other people.” 

She tucks her hair behind her ear, and watches as Kylo goes to sprawl out in the grass. “Why aren’t you at Hogsmeade?” She asks, sitting down on the bench by the tree.

He puts his hands in his back pockets, “I had homework to catch up on. What about you?”

She sighs, “Still too many people questioning me about what happened yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” He says, furrowing his brow.

She raises an eyebrow, and points at him, “The patronus? Me fainting?” She drops her hand and leans back. 

“Oh,” He rocks back on his heels, and nods. “no one’s said anything to me about it.”

“Of course nobody has, you intimidate everyone.”

“Not you.”

She huffs, fighting a smile. “Obviously.”

He chuckles, and comes to join her on the bench. A strong breeze blows by suddenly, and she shivers and rubs her left palm against her right arm. The sling doesn’t provide much warmth.

“H-here,” he holds out his scarf, and she frowns at him.

“Don’t you need it?”

“I have a jacket on, I’m fine. And half your arm is exposed, I think you need it more.”

She reaches to take it from him, their fingers brushing. She puts it over her head, and wraps it around her arm. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry, it’s just for saving my cat.” He chuckles awkwardly, rubbing his hands against his pants. 

A large drop of rain lands on her head suddenly, and she gasps. It quickly turns into a downpour, and they both jump up and run to take cover under the covered walkway. Rey wrings out her hair and tosses it over her shoulder. 

“Figures, it’s clear and sunny all week just for it to rain on the weekend.” 

He chuckles and nods, pulling off his soaked jacket and casting a warm air charm on it to dry it a bit before shrugging it back on. 

“Ben?” He raises an eyebrow and looks at her, “can I ask… why you got so upset the other day?”

He sighs, putting his hands back in his pockets. “I… don’t know. Just people telling me how I feel, what I think. I’ve never really liked it.”

“But I wasn’t wrong. I mean, I’m not trying to tell you how you feel,” she reaches up to rub the back of her neck, “you’ve just never liked me. Not since the first time we met.”

He scoffs, and crosses his arms. “That's not true.” 

She rolls her eyes, “Could’ve fooled me. You were so angry when we tied for highest marks first year, you made my pumpkin juice explode everywhere.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, and gestures wildly with his hands, “I was a stupid kid, who was used to being the best at everything he did! It doesn’t mean I hated you!” 

It’s her turn to scoff, “Whatever.” She turns to walk away from him, but he catches her shoulder and spins her back around toward him.

“There’s a reason my patronus changed.” He presses his lips together, and he places both his hands on her shoulders. “I…” he starts but trails off. 

She furrows her brows, “Why? Why did it change?”

“Because I finally realized how I actually felt. About you.” His face flushes, and he looks up. 

“How did you feel about me?” She says, barely a whisper. 

“Isn’t it obvious, Rey? I liked you. And I liked you from the first time I saw you.”

She shakes her head, and starts to step back, “No you didn’t, you’re joking.” 

He doesn’t let go, tightening his hold on her shoulders.

“And that's a cruel joke, Ben Solo.” Her lips tremble slightly, “Did Hux put you up to this, or something? For a laugh or-“ she’s cut off by him crushing his mouth against hers, and his hands come up to cup her face. She’s never kissed anyone before, but she finds herself kissing him back, and her left hand comes up rest against his chest. They break apart finally, both catching their breath. 

He rests his forehead against hers, “Do you believe me now?” He whispers. 

She doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know what to think. She remembers Jessika saying something about a kiss making her see stars, and she thinks she understands now. 

He straightens up, dropping his hands to her shoulders again. “You should go get changed into dry clothes, before you catch a cold.” 

She nods, stepping back from him. She walks back to the Slytherin common room in a daze, and falls back into her bed when she gets to her room. She touches her mouth, thinking about how wonderful his lips felt against hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sure no one saw that coming 😉 
> 
> I’m not the best at describing things, but when I said ‘covered walkway’, [this](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dc/e3/6d/dce36d82ee0db18196c1ceacad3243a4.jpg) is what I meant.  
> [Hot Air Charm](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hot-Air_Charm)  
> [Severing Charm](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Severing_Charm)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is left feeling confused after her encounter with Ben, and the quidditch match finally gets rescheduled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little longer than usual, things have been a little hectic lately. Hope you enjoy, and please leave me any feedback you may have!

They don’t say anything to each other for the next week. She gets the cast off, and the headmistress announces they’re still investigating, so the quidditch match still hadn’t been rescheduled. Finn can tell something about her is off, but she just makes an excuse about too much homework. She sits in the Slytherin common room now, trying to do her transfiguration homework when she feels a tap on her shoulder. She looks up to see Kaydel standing in front of her.

“What’s up?” She asks, setting her quill down. 

“Are you okay? You’ve been keeping to yourself so much lately. I know you tend to do that when something’s bothering you.”

She sighs, thinking how her friends know her too well. “I’ve just had something on my mind.” She shrugs, not sure what else to say. 

Kaydel sits down next to her. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” She lowers her voice, “did Hux say something to you again? Cause I’ll punch him if he did.” 

Rey chuckles, shaking her head. “No, it wasn’t Hux. It was….” she trails off, remembering how wonderful Bens lips felt against hers; how she still had his scarf, and it was currently tucked under her pillow. She ducks her head, and whispers, “Ben Solo kissed me.”

The other girl’s brow furrowed, “What?”

She sighs, leaning closer to her, “Ben Solo kissed me.” 

Kaydels eyes widen, and she gasps, “He kissed you?!” She says it rather loudly, and a few heads turn in their direction. 

Rey bumps her shoulder against Kaydels, shushing her. “Don’t announce it to the whole room.” She feels her face heating, and she pulls her hair over her ears to try and shield her face a bit.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But what? Ben Solo, as in your rival since first year?! That Ben Solo?!” She whispers.

Rey swallows, and nods. Kaydel drags her to their room, and luckily their other roommates aren’t there.

“Tell me everything.”

Once Rey finishes, the other girl just gapes at her. 

“Wow. I don’t even know what to say. You haven’t spoken to him since then?”

Rey shakes her head, staring at her hands clasped in her lap. “What am I supposed to say to him? Maybe it’d be easier if he spoke to me first, but I’ve tried catching his eye in class and it’s almost like he’s avoiding me,” she looks back up at Kaydel, “it was my first kiss.”

“Oh, honey it was probably his too. He’s never paid any attention to another girl besides you. This whole thing makes sense, honestly. We were kind of all wondering when you two would just get over yourselves and bang.”

Rey feels her face heat, “What..” she stammers, and ducks her head in embarrassment. “He’s always been a tosser.”

“You weren’t much better yourself.” 

“He started it all!”

“And you continued it! Look, Rey, he never even talks to anyone outside of his own house. And a few of my Ravenclaw friends always talk about how awkward he is. Katie told me she tried to ask him out once, and he just choked on his pumpkin juice and didn’t answer her. He probably has just as little experience as you do in romantic type stuff.” She smiles, and takes Rey’s hand. “Just try talking to him, and tell him how you feel.”

“But what if I don’t know what I feel?” 

The other girl snorts, “Then you better figure it out soon.”

~~

She tries to work up the courage to talk to him the next day at lunch, but chickens out when she sees him sitting by himself and looking irritated. She planned to do it during the study period, but Professor Skywalker announced they’d be having a quiet study today, so no such luck. She now sits in potions class, and she finished early and is watching him from the corner of her eye. He’d finished early too, of course, and was flipping through his potions book. 

“Miss Niima.”

She jumps, and looks at Professor Erso standing in front of her, “Yes, Professor?”

“Is anything wrong? You’ve seemed distracted today.”

She sees Ben turn toward her, and quickly look away again. “Just had a lot of homework.” It wasn’t a total lie, all the seventh years had a lot of work lately. The professor just nods, and walks around to other students. 

Once the bell rings, signaling the end of class, everyone packs up and heads out. She tries again to catch Ben’s eye, but he doesn’t look in her direction. Unsure of what else to do, she pulls a piece of paper from her bag and crumples it up, and charms it to fly through the air and hit him in the head. He turns around with a scowl, and when his eyes meet hers, the scowl drops. She inclines her head toward the stairs, and starts in that direction, hoping he follows. She stops in a slightly private alcove, and turns to see him walking up to join her. She crosses her arms, and just stares at him. 

“What?” He asks, casually putting his hands in his pockets. 

“What? You kiss me, and then avoid me all week and all you can say is ‘what?’” She tries to keep her voice down, but can feel her anger rising.

He rolls his eyes, and matches her crossed arms. “Do you want me to apologize, or something? Sorry, it won’t happen again. I don’t know what I was thinking.” 

“Excuse me?!” She practically shouts at him, dropping her arms to her side and balling her fists. “It won’t hap-“ she pauses, thinking about what he said. “What do you mean, it won’t happen again? Avoiding me for a week?”

“Kissing you. You made it very clear how you feel about me, so sorry, just forget it ever happened.” He turns and starts to walk away, and before she’s totally sure what she’s doing, she puts her arms around his waist and clings to him. 

“What if I don’t want to forget?” She whispers, leaning her forehead against his back.

His hands come to rest on top of hers, and for a second she thinks he’ll remove her hands. “I never thought it possible you could…” he trails off, his hands holding tight to hers. 

“Nor did I.” She quietly responds, mumbling the words into his back. He does remove her hands, but instead of walking away he turns to face her and again takes her hands.

“When you didn’t say anything afterwards, I thought I had made a mistake.” His brows are furrowed and his eyes look sad.

“I was in shock,” she huffs out a breath, but smiles, “someone who I thought couldn’t stand me all these years. I apologize for how awful I’ve been.”

He shakes his head, squeezing her hands. “It’s I who should apologize, I was foolish and competitive.”

She fears they would just go back and forth apologizing and agonizing over their past mistakes, so she again acts without thinking. She surges forward and stands on the tips of her toes and kisses him. He seems stunned at first, and is frozen. But he quickly recovers, his hands going around her waist. She clings to his collar, trying to pull him even closer. She feels herself pressed back against the wall. Their mouths clash feverishly, neither of them having much experience with this. His teeth graze her lower lip, and she yelps in surprise. He immediately pulls back, looking guilty. 

“I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head, “Don’t be.” 

She captures his lips again, and she opens her mouth slightly, feeling like it’s the right thing to do. He follows her lead and does the same. It’s like a surge of electricity when their tongues meet. She whimpers, and his hands tighten around her waist. They stop to catch their breath, and she rests her head on his shoulder.

“Please don’t avoid me anymore.” She whispers, still short of breath. 

He shakes his head, “I wouldn’t dare.”

~~

The next week, she feels as if she is in a dream. Her friends notice her change of mood, and poke at her until she finally admits what’s made her so happy. Kaydel claps, and Jessikas mouth just drops open. When she tells Finn, he just rolls his eyes and says it was about time. She drags Ben along to hogsmeade that weekend, and has him sit with her, Finn and Rose. He’s quiet and shy, but no one minds. Hux makes a comment under his breath one day when he walks past the two holding hands, and Ben scowls and starts toward him, but she just holds tight to his arm and pulls him along to class. 

At dinner one evening, the headmistress steps up to her podium and calls for silence.

“It pleases me to inform all of you, that the quidditch match has been rescheduled for this weekend.” A roar of cheers and applause goes around, and Professor

Holdo smiles and lets them have their moment. Once it quiets down again, she continues. “I do ask though that if anyone notices anything odd or suspicious, you report it to me or your head of house. Enjoy your meal.”

Jessika bumps her shoulder against Rey’s with a raised eyebrow, “Do we have to worry about you and Solo going against each other this weekend?”

Rey just scoffs, “Of course not. I am much too proud to just let him win, as is he. This is my last chance to win against him, anyways.” She says with a smirk. Her friends just chuckle, and resume eating. She does feel a slight pang of worry, not about Ben, but about her last time on a broom. They’d never been able to determine what had gone wrong, just saying it was probably a result of her broom being old. 

Once dinner is over, she waits for Ben to catch up to her. He holds his robes over one shoulder, and his sleeves are rolled up. She feels her cheeks warm, and she smiles and looks down. 

“What’s the matter?” He asks, nudging her foot with his own.

“Nothing.” She looks back up, and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Are you ready to lose this weekend?” 

He chuckles, and slings an arm around her shoulder, walking out of the great hall with her. “If it comes to that, yes. But I won’t make it easy.” 

She elbows him playfully, “I should hope not.”

When she lays down to sleep that night, she’s greeted with familiar nightmares. Her mother, shouting horrible things at her. Holding on to her father's leg, begging him not to leave. Trying to shake her mother awake, because she was starving and couldn’t reach the cupboard. Or when her mother had back handed her after she hid her bottle of liquor. 

_ ‘You’ll never escape your past. It’ll follow you wherever you go. You’ll never be good enough.’ _

She wakes with a gasp, her heart practically beating out of her chest. She sits up, and throws her covers off. She looks around the room, all of her roommates asleep. She decides to pull her slippers on and go to the common room. When she nears the hallway, she hears voices, and freezes. She can’t make out what they’re saying, but it sounds like a male voice. The voices stop suddenly, and she runs out to try to see who it was, but they’re already gone. 

~~

The day finally comes for the quidditch match, and the whole school is bursting with excitement. Rey had been slightly nervous at practice, it being the first time she was on a broom since her accident, but it had gone great. She had missed the feel of the wind blowing through her hair. 

“Okay, guys,” Kaydel calls everyone’s attention, “so this is a big one. Ravenclaw is ahead of us right now for points, so we really need to give it our all today.” 

Rey notices Hux standing slightly away from everyone else, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Not unusual for him, but he usually gives his unwanted opinion before their matches. Everyone starts to head out to the field, but Hux holds his arm out to stop her. 

“What do you want, Hux?” She snaps at him.

He smirks, “It doesn’t matter that he cares for you. It’ll never be enough.”

She furrows her brow, “Who? What are you talking about?”

“Solo will be claimed by the dark, you can’t stop it. We’ve worked too hard for it.”

“Ben? What does he have to do with anything? Who’s we?”

He starts walking toward her, and she backs away from him, “You’re too late. Just give him up, or else you’ll regret it.”

“Excuse me? Are you threatening me? Do you really think I’m scared of you?” 

He keeps walking toward her, “You should be.”

She balls up her fist, and goes to punch him in his smug face. He catches her fist, and quicker than she can even process, points his wand at her and quietly says, 

“ _ Crucio.” _

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I’m really excited to start writing this, hopefully I can balance writing four things at once! 😱
> 
> Things referenced in this Chapter 
> 
> [Star bird](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Starbird)
> 
> [Wit Sharpening Potion](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Wit-Sharpening_Potion)


End file.
